


Achilles come down

by briefoptimisticspaceaffair



Series: Strawberries [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briefoptimisticspaceaffair/pseuds/briefoptimisticspaceaffair
Summary: Achilles come down by gang of youths band is a good song
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Series: Strawberries [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958122
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. Be as you've always been

**Author's Note:**

> Achilles come down by gang of youths band is a good song

Nico felt somewhat disjointed and unsure of himself. Percy was right next to him smiling and talking to the Romans who were congratulating Percy on defeating Polybotes. Percy, who remembered Nico and had /kissed/ Nico in front of /everyone/. 

Nico decided not to think about that even though his mouth was still tingling and he was fighting the urge to continue feeling Percy up. Nico was not going to do that in full view of the Roman camp. Besides Nico had a problem, another problem. That he had been ignoring. The dead weren’t dying. 

“Nico,” Percy said gently lifting up Nico’s hand (yes they were holding hands, yes it was disgustingly cute). “I, we have so much to talk about, but-”. Percy leaned into Nico’s personal space and lowered his voice making Nico’s heart race.  
“-Camp Half Blood, is everything alright there? No trees on fire, or trash in Hano's lake?” Percy looked concerned. A tiny crease forming between his eyebrows.

Nico shook his head, everything was fine, give or take a few new campers. Nico leaned back from Percy's side, entwining their hands and eyeing the crowds around the battlefield.  
Hazel was talking rapidly with Frank and some other Romans Nico didn’t know but recognised.

“The trees are fine, and Hano is grumpy but I think it’s because they secretly miss you”. Nico informed Percy tugging on their joint hands because he’d just noticed a rather enthusiastic roman trying to climb Mrs O’Leary. “Hey get off the hellhound!” Nico called walking over quickly and dragging Percy behind him. 

“Mrs O’Leary!” Percy cooed and immediately started to pet the hellhound. It was very undignified for a hellhound to woof softly and roll over like Mrs O’Leary did for Percy. Nico had worked hard for his awesome terrifying reputation. Mrs O’Leary was supposed to be a horrifying spectre of the underworld not a cute dog. 

As if sensing his thoughts Percy sheepishly glanced back at Nico. Nico crossed his arms and gave Percy an unimpressed stare. Percy laughed “sorry, I’m ruining your whole mysterious and dangerous thing aren’t I?” Nico felt his lips twitch in betrayal and slowly form into a smile he was failing to suppress. 

The clean up took the rest of the day. There was a very tetchy and upset statue which Nico made sure he gave a wide berth. It was a relief to find himself sitting at a long table with a plate of pizza and much needed coffee. Hazel only let Nico have one cup of coffee before she replaced it with water. Percy wasn’t back yet from his meeting with Reyna. 

Percy was now praetor, Nico wanted to be surprised but he honestly wasn’t. Percy just had this aura around him that drew people to him, even though Percy was an idiot that once tried to eat a kit kat that hadn’t been opened. And had been covered in ketchup. 

There was a soft ache behind Nico’s eyes, he felt incredibly sleepy. Nico was this close to just face planting into his pizza and taking a nap. Nico propped himself up with a hand and chewed on the pizza, he was hungry. 

Nico’s eyes slid shut and his head dropped. He nearly did make the pizza a pillow. “Woah!” someone said from behind Nico and instead of pizza Nico’s face hit a hand. It was a very comfortable hand, Nico tried to snuggle the hand. It didn’t really work. 

“Hey,” Percy softly whispered from behind Nico. “Careful, sleepy head”. Arms came around Nico’s waist and he was pulled up against a very nice chest. “Alright,” Percy’s voice breathed over Nico’s hair. “Let's get you somewhere to sleep that’s better than a table”. Nico was vaguely aware that Percy had picked him up and was carrying him away from his dinner. 

“Pizza,” Nico managed to convey his lack of appreciation at being picked up like a damsel in distress. Nico may be a damsel, he may be in distress but he could handle it. Nico rolled his head back against Percy’s nice shoulder and huffed a laugh. Percy would make a great ‘Wonderboy’. And with that nonsensical thought regarding that one Hercules cartoon that Nico had actually sat down and watched the single time he had been in the Hermes cabin, Nico fell asleep.


	2. Give my heart a holiday

Percy could feel himself coming down after the battle, and that hell of a trip via horse from Alaska. It still weirded him out that Arion was that fast, and ate gold. Percy wanted to say he had seen weirder stuff, but honestly he hadn’t. 

Percy had gotten swamped after bashing Polybotes face with Terminus’ head. He’d only had a brief reprieve where Percy had found Nico and kissed him like he needed Nico to breathe. Which at this point Percy wouldn’t be surprised if that was actual scientific fact that could be proven by how tight his chest felt right now. 

Percy had to leave Nico with Mrs O’Leary after Dakota had found them and told Percy he was needed in the senate. Reyna was trying very hard not to murder Octavian, who was murdering a stuffed pegasus toy. It was the same colour as Scipo so Percy could see why Reyna’s eye was twitching. 

Percy got shoved into a purple bed sheet and then given his marks on his right forearm. Percy walked slowly. He didn’t have much choice, if he went at anything quicker than a shuffle. Percy knew he would stand on the ends of the bedsheet and trip himself up. Percy tried to look dignified, the blue crown Julia had given him wobbled precariously on his head. Yeah he looked like an idiot. 

Percy scanned the crowds in the mess hall for Nico. Hazel waved and Percy spotted Hazel, Frank and Nico tucked away in a corner. Percy grinned, Nico was busy chugging coffee and hadn’t noticed him yet. Percy shuffled as fast as his legs could shuffle, he felt like a penguin. 

Nico had replaced his coffee with pizza and looked half a second from falling asleep at the table. Percy shuffled up behind Nico just in time to catch Nico who had tilted forward and had been about to land in his pizza. Hazel made a worried noise “Nico! Are you okay?” Nico didn’t respond to his sister. He made an adorable snuffaling sigh and rubbed his face against Percy’s hand. 

Percy gave up. Nico was just too darn cute. Percy threw the bed sheet over his shoulder and picked Nico up. He was surprisingly light, Percy felt a curl of concern. Nico must have been missing out on his usual weekend visits to Percy’s mum. Percy’s mum had made Nico promise to come by every Saturday and the two of them would hang out. Sally Jackson had managed to turn Nico from worryingly skinny to, Oh he’s a teenager and does things like summon the dead, and therefore has a fast metabolism. 

“Pizza” Nico murmured against Percy’s neck. Yeah Percy could relate, food or sleep. Percy told Frank and Hazel he was taking Nico somewhere better than a table. Someone crowed after Percy that a bed /would/ be more comfortable. Nico snuggled against Percy’s chest. Percy could deal with whoever shouted that later. 

There was a shimmer of light and Percy glanced up to see a rainbow was hovering above him. Percy didn’t know whether to feel happy or embarrassed. Percy supposed it was a nice touch and considered thanking Iris later. Then a R.O.F.L cupcake hit Percy on the head. 

Percy settled Nico into a camp bed inside the Fifth Cohort barracks. It was most certainly against a rule that Percy didn’t want to know, to have someone who was not a part of the Fifth Cohort in the barracks. Percy collapsed into his own camp bed and fell asleep to the sound of Nico breathing.

~ ~ 

Percy woke up to the sandy colour of the barracks ceiling. He kind of wanted to go back to sleep and try and dream something other than Juno butting into his head and getting all up in his business. Dear gods, could Percy not just get one minute of peace?

Percy privately thought that Juno sucked as much ass as Juno as she did as Hera.

Percy rolled onto his side and immediately saw Nico was still asleep in the camp bed next to Percy’s. Percy instantly felt a thousand times better. Early morning light was breaking past the curtains and gently making Nico’s dark curls shine.

Any lingering irritation Percy had been feeling was swept away against the force of Nico Di Angelo asleep and living up to his name by looking incredibly angelic. Percy’s heart felt about ten times too big for his chest. But before Percy could get up and go brush Nico’s curls away from his face and maybe place a soft kiss against his forehead, the door banged open.

Percy froze halfway between the two camp beds. Frank stood in the doorway, Hazel was peeking over his shoulder. She slumped in relief when she saw Percy. “Oh thank the gods you’re both dressed”. Hazel sighed holding a hand against her heart and walked past Frank.

Percy and Frank shared an uncomfortable look. Frank was probably blushing the same amount as Percy was. Nico made a soft noise and sat up, his hair was sticking up around his head in soft beautiful waves. Percy wanted to run his fingers through Nico’s hair. “Eh-wha?” Nico mumbled.

“Good morning, Nico” Hazel cheerfully greeted her brother and produced a hairbrush from somewhere.

“Um, so, Tyson said Ella has a message for you” Frank said. Percy was sure his own blush had gone down, but poor Frank looked like he had eaten an entire bag of hot peppers. Percy clapped his hands together trying to regain some brain cells, he glanced back at Nico. Nico shoved Hazel’s hairbrush back at her, his hair was a lot less poofy.

“Okay, let's go see Tyson”.


End file.
